In many instances, passenger vehicles, such as aircraft, buses, trains, ships, and automobiles, include passenger seats with a wide assortment of portable electronic and entertainment options to encourage passengers to remain seated as much as possible during transport for safety, crew mobility, and to enable efficient cabin service. Some passenger seats may provide video and audio entertainment, including television, video games, internet access, and other on-board entertainment (“OBE”) or in-flight entertainment (“IFE”) components. Typically, these entertainment devices are mounted in the seat backs and/or arm rests of the passenger seats.
With the advent of portable electronic devices (“PEDs”), such as tablet computers, mobile phones, smart phones, handheld video game systems, personal digital assistants, palmtop computers, DVD players, data and audio-video media, multi-media enabled devices, laptop computers, and other similar electronic devices, many passengers prefer to use their own PEDs, rather than the OBE or IFE components that are mounted in the passenger seats.
The rate at which PEDs, namely mobile phones, tablets, portable computers, personal digital assistants (“PDAs”), have been evolving has been exponential. These devices are constantly increasing in functions and decreasing/altering in size, making them more portable and at the same time able to perform more tasks. This evolution has led to passengers carrying their personal information and media on these devices with the expectation of using them while traveling.
To this point, there have been very few examples of the integration of these PEDs into airplane seats in any specific way to the seat, other than providing a location on a tray table, such as a groove to hold the PED, and sometimes a power connection to charge them. Conventional mounting locations are in the tray table, which must be stowed during certain times during flight.
There is a need for passengers to have a way to hold or store these PEDs while in flight in a manner that allows the PEDs to be used and enjoyed at any given moment. In some cases, it may be desirable to provide a way for passengers to connect their PEDs to the OBE or IFE systems, so that they may use their own PEDs in lieu of the OBE or IFE systems. In other cases, it may be desirable to provide a way for passengers to connect their PEDs to the OBE or IFE systems to use in conjunction with the system's video display or to receive power for their PEDs or otherwise. Some conventional seats include provisions for PEDs located behind the tray table, which limits the availability of such features to times when the tray table is deployed. In addition, provisions located behind the tray table may not be ergonomically suited to small or large passengers.
As a result, there is a need for a support structure and interface system for PEDs that is always available (regardless of whether the tray table is deployed) and adaptable to a wide range of passengers (and to a range of PED sizes, shapes, and thicknesses, and that does not create the need for an extra components or adapters). Such a solution eliminates the need for airlines to provide a large number of cases/adapters, which represents additional weight and the need for additional storage space, as well as eliminating the costs for passengers to purchase an additional case/adapter for his or her PED. Such a solution also allows passengers to use their PEDs with or without a case, and to make the tray tables available for meals, documents, or any other object, or to allow passengers to stow the tray tables while still having the PEDs securely placed for use and/or viewing.